My two week staycation began yesterday evening. I kicked it off by not practicing and drinking too much wine. I did some good music listening, though. I am really digging Spotify. It's only $10/month and you can listen to almost anything (no Beatles, though). In addition to listening to a whole lot of flute music (Bezaly, Joshua Smith, Pahud), I came across a series of CDs, all titled "50 Essential ..." There's a CD for classical works, opera arias, baroque works and piano works. I think these CDs would be great for young students, so for you teachers out there, check them out.
Highlights of my practice today: the harmonics are slowly but surely improving. I am playing the harmonic exercises from the Wye Practice Books, fingering low C and low C#. I find these exercises immensely helpful in creating lip flexibility. I'm still working on the ninth etude in the Cavally book. I should finish it up tomorrow. This is the first etude I'll have spent three days on since I began this project. I think it's better to spend some time on the etude and play it well than to play it rush through it with no thought and play it poorly. There's no learning in the latter.
For orchestral excerpts, I worked on the Polonaise and Badinerie from Bach's Suite No.2 in B Minor. I played the Polonaise for an audition for chair placement at a summer music camp when I was a freshman in high school. Being from rural Kentucky, I had flute lessons quite infrequently as my mother had to drive me to the closest city over 2 hours away for them. I wasn't able to get any assistance on this work before the auditions, and therefore I played the piece about two times too fast. Despite the goof up, I have fond memories of this piece and the experience. I didn't know it at the time, but this was the first real piece of flute literature I'd ever played.
I'm still plugging away at the Bach Partita. I did a run-through of the Allemande movement. I thought I'd worked out all the breathing, but apparently I was mistaken. I tried, again, to map out the breathing, and I think this time I got it down. The phrasing still needs work, and I plan on doing some more listening tonight to whatever I can find on Spotify and try to decide on how I want to play the phrases. I have issues with endurance when playing through just the first movement, which worries me. I lose sound quality, so that by the time I play the final high A, my lips are a bit shot. I figure the only way to remedy that is to play more. A runner doesn't train for a marathon by not running, right? I worked on the Corrente movement to rehearsal letter B (Leduc edition). I'm happy with my progress on this piece, but I am looking forward to working on something else within the next couple of weeks.
I've reviewed my first post on this blog, and I feel like I've made good progress toward the goals I'd stated. I've purchased a flute and will have it in about a month, I've been practicing almost daily, and I have tentative plans to begin lessons in the next few weeks with a flutist in the Army Field Band. I found a community orchestra I'd like to check out -- the NIH Community Orchestra. According to the website, it has open seating. I've sent a request to join their Yahoo group, but I have yet to receive a response. This is the only way, apparently, to get a rehearsal schedule. It's possible that they have enough/too many flute players. I'll look around for other groups to join, as well. I still plan to enter the North Atlantic Flute Society's Adult Amateur Competition. The preliminary recorded audition deadline isn't until September, so I have plenty of time.
I still need to title this as of yet untitled project. I almost have it, I can feel it. Again, if my dear reader has suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
I've reviewed my first post on this blog, and I feel like I've made good progress toward the goals I'd stated. I've purchased a flute and will have it in about a month, I've been practicing almost daily, and I have tentative plans to begin lessons in the next few weeks with a flutist in the Army Field Band. I found a community orchestra I'd like to check out -- the NIH Community Orchestra. According to the website, it has open seating. I've sent a request to join their Yahoo group, but I have yet to receive a response. This is the only way, apparently, to get a rehearsal schedule. It's possible that they have enough/too many flute players. I'll look around for other groups to join, as well. I still plan to enter the North Atlantic Flute Society's Adult Amateur Competition. The preliminary recorded audition deadline isn't until September, so I have plenty of time.
I still need to title this as of yet untitled project. I almost have it, I can feel it. Again, if my dear reader has suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
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